Informed by the traditions of creative jazz; an interest in unusual time signatures; the music of Hinudstani and Brazil; through drummer Dan Weiss the influence of Indian Classical music; through Steve Coleman and Five Element compatriot, guitarist Miles Ozaki, an urban electric edge; making for an album both technically interesting and musically absolutely rewarding.
"Saxophonist and composer Ohad Talmor follows up his album Long Forms with the Ohad Talmor Newsreel Sextet - a trio recording with his closest musical friends in Brooklyn: guitarist Miles Okazaki and drummer Dan Weiss. Ohad Talmor is the very definition of a cosmopolitan artist, holding three passports - American, Swiss and Israeli - while being based in the polyglot borough of Brooklyn, New York. Although mentored by the late, great altoist Lee Konitz, Talmor has musical obsessions that range far and wide. From iconic tenor saxophonists like Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter to such disparate European composers as Bruckner and Ligeti to theintricacies of Hindustani classical music.
Talmor has taken this album's title, Mise en place, from a French phrase often used to refer to the preparation and organization of all ingredients and implements ahead of cooking although, more pertinently, it's also a colloquial French term for rhythmic accuracy in jazz. A fluent, precise "time feel" is a prime trait of his trio with Okazaki and Weiss. The trio plays as one, lithe and muscular. "Despite the technical demands of these pieces," Talmor says, "our goal is to eschew stock licks, to really listen, to really improvise - to always be in the moment with the music."-Intakt
"The cry was heard, "nobody said there was going to be math involved!" Sorry kids, the music heard on saxophonist Ohad Talmor's Mise En Place is in fact related to the abstract science of number, quantity, and space, and this is an upper level course on the intricate. Seven of the nine compositions were penned by the French-born, raised-in-Switzerland, Israeli saxophonist now living in Brooklyn.
A student of Lee Konitz and both Hindustani and Brazilian musics, he found two sympathetic partners in guitarist Miles Okazaki, an alumni of Steve Coleman and Five Elements, and drummer Dan Weiss, who has a deep knowledge of Indian Classical music. The mathematics are evident in the complex and odd (to Western ears) time signatures of "Kamali," "Shymal Bose Chakradar," and "Rupak Tukra." The trio's adaption of Indian music into an improvisational context demonstrates the the skill of these talented artists, but the music doesn't trade precision for soul.
The music rocks out on "Back Of The Plane" much like Weiss' heavy metal/prog rock band Starebaby does. And, as they say in TV commercials, "wait there's more." Talmor gives us sly encoded "Pairs," delivered as a most enigmatic ballad, complex yet soulful. His tenor saxophone sound is lavish without being pretentious. This is further evidenced by the trio's covers of Coltrane's "Wise One" and "After The Rain." Both compositions are delivered in a reverential and straightforward manner making for a most luxurious sound."-Mark Corroto, All About Jazz